tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-978531190643365040.post8076317495411859966..comments2023-10-04T11:47:45.212-04:00Comments on The Flying Trilobite: Being an atheist insomniacGlendon Mellowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03582347493421110738noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-978531190643365040.post-228093215451280172010-10-13T14:23:48.667-04:002010-10-13T14:23:48.667-04:00I remember first coming across the concept of non-...I remember first coming across the concept of non-immortality, it involved a program on black wholes. I got so worried that our entire planet re: solar system was going to be randomly swallowed and I couldn't sleep. I was about 5.<br /><br />This has continued through out my life - even when I was doing nothing but being made to to church there was part me going 'yeah but what if that's not true?'<br /><br />My dad was very good with this he told me that our actions reverberate down the years (and then went on about Chaos butterflies! and storms), the fact we are all made of stars and all those bits of us there are could find ourselves being other stars or planets or what ever. And most importantly for a scared 5 year old - that black wholes where unlikely to just suddenly appear like that but that even if it did maybe we'd end up as part of another universe and if not then we wouldn't know about it anyway so it wouldn't matter. This eased me far more than being told we'd all go to heaven which was my mums answer (this didn't work as I percieved heaven as being part of this universe and the black whole sucks you out of it - remember I was five!).<br /><br />Thankyou for sharing this :)<br /><br />SaffySaffyhttp://www.snell-pym.org.uk/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-978531190643365040.post-76863976510954553102010-03-23T12:15:00.898-04:002010-03-23T12:15:00.898-04:00Hey, Glendon,
As a fellow insomniac, you have my ...Hey, Glendon,<br /><br />As a fellow insomniac, you have my sympathy. Me? I prefer to dwell on my personal shortcomings or current state of pique than my mortality, but I understand where you're coming from.<br /><br />I also am in tune with your desire to live on through your work. I want to do stuff that's worth looking at in a hundred years.<br /><br />The thing about an afterlife? I do not believe it's at all intellectually supportable. So I don't believe in it.<br /><br />But I've had enough weird stuff go on around death and ghosts and so on so that I do believe in it.<br /><br />As an example, I had a dream last week where I heard some music my dead brother was playing on a stereo. It stuck in my head; I woke up trying to figure out what that guitar hook was from. Drove me nuts all day long.<br /><br />That night, I watched a few episodes of Metalocalypse -- and the song was on one of them.<br /><br />Evidence? No. But it was enough to feed that superstitious node at the base of my cortex.<br /><br />My own consolation against death is this; the part or parts of ourselves that have self-awareness are insignificant next to the rest of us. And the distinctions between the world and the individual are actually quite arbitrary. We're part of the whole, and it wouldn't be the same thing if we weren't here. Despite all human judgment, there is a perfection to existence, and we are a part of that as vital as any other part. More arbitrary judgment -- but it's as valid as any other.<br /><br />Not too far from your position in a lot of ways...Sean Cravenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13763869499494698057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-978531190643365040.post-13759426235130008982010-03-22T07:55:51.078-04:002010-03-22T07:55:51.078-04:00The other option is to willingly delude yourself t...The other option is to willingly delude yourself that a space daddy will take care of you after you die. Frankly, Daft Punk has less guilt.<br /><br />By the way, did you see their Interstella 5555 series? It's very good animation, and the songs are nice.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12873199409700078109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-978531190643365040.post-88009392842145567662010-03-22T07:02:37.533-04:002010-03-22T07:02:37.533-04:00Thanks Djordje! Daft Punk, totally.Thanks Djordje! Daft Punk, totally.Glendon Mellowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03582347493421110738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-978531190643365040.post-22184112866907604102010-03-21T18:39:43.795-04:002010-03-21T18:39:43.795-04:00I can guarantee you, right now, that your existenc...I can guarantee you, right now, that your existence is timeless and permanent. No one and nothing can extinguish you.<br /><br />(According to the laws of physics. You may die, turn to ash, reform into something else, even turn to pure energy, but you will always exist. That's a comforting thought.)<br /><br />I like to listen to some Daft Punk when I get thoughts like these.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12873199409700078109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-978531190643365040.post-76030095437137831782010-03-21T01:10:36.709-04:002010-03-21T01:10:36.709-04:00Thanks Karen.
One hope I have is that if there i...Thanks Karen. <br /><br />One hope I have is that if there is a sort of an afterlife, it resembled the "Void that Binds" in Dan Simmons' <i>Hyperion Cantos</i> series.Glendon Mellowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03582347493421110738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-978531190643365040.post-48946595305912213352010-03-20T16:49:39.957-04:002010-03-20T16:49:39.957-04:00We achieve a natural immortality through having ex...We achieve a natural immortality through having existed, through having acted in this world and through our bodies being physically reabsorbed by the planet.<br /><br />Like Alan Watts said, '<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXmz605GAnc" rel="nofollow">our fundamental self is not something just inside the skin</a>', but our perceptions and, as Allston writes, the domino effects of our actions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com